We empower through technology to participate in the digital economy on a global scale

DoDigi is a solution to support women-led SMMEs in low-income communities to provide access to technological innovation and achieve digital inclusion for sustainable businesses and thriving communities. The DoDigi program offers a learning methodology that is centred on the real-time practical application of theoretical business knowledge. Through the program, we improve access to fundamental business services in the current digitized world by engaging business owners in innovative, accessible and hands-on-technology skills development for business sustainability and growth.

Project Purpose

In Sub-Saharan Africa, over 70% of women are in informal employment, resulting in women being more women vulnerable to poverty and sexual violence, poor working conditions and limited opportunities for socio-economic upward mobility. The exclusion of women in the formal sector inhibits the sustainable development of Africa. New and sustainable business is key for the economic growth of Africa. Entrepreneurship provides women the opportunity to be direct, active actors in the economy and achieves inclusive economic growth. Africa has a growing digital economy through which technology provides entrepreneurs the opportunity to create and scale entities, create value and monetize innovations in technology (tech). However the exclusion of women in the tech sector is much more severe as seen in the gender gap where women hold less than 30% of tech-based jobs.

DoDigi is a multi-layered initiative for female entrepreneurship in a 21st century global context through the lens of women’s economic participation in Southern Africa.

The name Do-Digi is short for “Do-Digital ”. The project is tailored to addressing access to the digital economy and financial inclusion as the program’s offerings to female entrepreneurship across Southern Africa. The name broadly speaks to the skill and access gap that women entrepreneurs such as with technology which extends to women even in urban contexts. In the current digital age Technology is vital in how businesses can function effectively and efficiently, how to reach customers and therefore make profit and be sustainable. Gendered technological blockades widen the economic gender inequality. Women in business are the largest untapped market which is significant for creating sustainable economies in Southern Africa.

It includes a blended offline and online 12 weeks program, a platform, as well as an advocacy channel that creates and fosters an enabling environment, provides gender aware business support and a resource package for female entrepreneurship in Southern Africa through supporting women-led businesses. DoDigi’s intersectional approach is inclusive as the program addresses the barriers for upward mobility of women in their daily lives who have the burden of care in the home, the needs of women-led business in rural and low-income communities, the challenges faced by women in business with disabilities and women who are illiterate.

DoDigi supports businesses across sectors such as agriculture, retail, manufacturing and charity organizations; and varying business sizes and maturity. Understanding the inequality gaps, DoDigi also supports businesses in the idea generation stage. The program is holistic in providing resources for the business and the Women in business. As such, the curriculum also contains workshops on building leadership capacity, workshops on sexual harrassment in business and in the workplace, professional communication, and sessions on networking to name a few. These are hard and soft skills that women contexts such as in low-income communities do not easily have access to.

How You Benefit

Sell your products online

Access to mentors and industry experts

Learn Digital Technologies to navigate around Covid-19

Access to resources, networks and funding opportunities

Practical Knowledge & Business Training

Project Objectives

Align with SDGs 1,5 and 8: no poverty in all its forms; gender equality and empowerment of women; and promote inclusive and sustainable economic growth, employment and decent work for all; by facilitating trading for all our beneficiaries on Meeticks to enable them to continue and sustain their businesses.

Address the lack of skills, knowledge and lack of access to economic opportunities which affects SMME’s ability to sustain their business especially in times of crisis by connecting entrepreneurs with mentors and training them in digital technologies, financial management and resilience-building skills and techniques; through Dream Factory Foundation’s Emergent Business Academy.

Promote and facilitate local and cross border trade and knowledge exchange initiatives/transactions in Southern Africa through our beneficiaries interacting and marketing their products on the Meeticks platform.